Siemens AG (German pronunciation: [ˈziːməns][3][4][5] or [-mɛns][5]) is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe[6] with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the company are Industry, Energy, Healthcare (Siemens Healthineers), and Infrastructure & Cities, which represent the main activities of the company.[7][8][9] The company is a prominent maker of medical diagnostics equipment and its medical health-care division, which generates about 12 percent of the company’s total sales, is its second-most profitable unit, after the industrial automation division. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.[10] Siemens and its subsidiaries employ approximately 385,000 people worldwide and reported global revenue of around €87 billion in 2019[11] according to its earnings release.
Beginning in 2005, Siemens became embroiled in a multi-national bribery scandal.[12] One component of this scandal was the Siemens Greek bribery scandal over deals between Siemens and Greek government officials during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.[13] Siemen’s activities came under legal scrutiny when complaints from prosecutors in Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland lead to German authorities opening investigations, followed by a US investigation in 2006 concerning their activities while listed on US stock exchanges.[14] The investigators found that bribing officials to win contracts was standard operating procedure.[14][15]
Over that time period the company paid around $1.3 billion in bribes in many countries and kept separate books to hide them.[15] Settlement negotiations took place through most of 2008 with settlement terms announced in December 2008. The company paid a total of about $1.6 billion, around $800 million in each of the US and Germany. This was the largest bribery fine in history, at the time. The company was also obligated to spend $1 billion on setting up and funding new internal compliance regimens.[14] Siemens pleaded guilty to violating accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the parent company did not plead guilty to paying bribes (although its Bangladesh and Venezuela subsidiaries did[15]).
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens
